February Card Club

Project Description

Another month has come and gone, and the Red Letter Journal card club members have several new and gorgeous cards to show for it! This month’s theme was using ink in any way except stamping an image. Let’s check out what the Create and Craft team did!

Joe Morgan used what is quickly becoming my favorite embossing folder! After embossing the card stock, Joe lightly brushed a couple different colors of ink over the raised image to make it pop. A Spellbinder’s die was used to cut the heart for the sentiment. After layering the sentiment, Joe pop dotted it on the card. Why am I craving candy hearts . . . hmmmm . . .

Next up, Joe Rotella! First, Joe stamped plain card stock using one of the amazing Animal Spirit stamps. He then spruced up the white card stock with distress ink and matted the image to a piece of black card stock. Finally, Joe distressed the card with another shade of ink. In distressing the actual card, Joe used a “technique” he learned in the Ranger class at CHA. During the class, Joe made a “mistake”, and Dyan Reaveley told him “Just to do it again! If you do it once, it’s a mistake. If you do it twice, you meant to do it. If you do it three times, you’re an artist!” While distressing the edges of his card, the ink pad slipped a bit. Rather than throw out the card, Joe did it again . . . then again! In the end, it made his card have a cool almost marbled effect!

For her card, Carole got a jump start on next month’s theme (you’ll have to read the entire blog to find out how!), but she also created a totally unique design by first using a template to create the branch. Brown ink was applied over the template so that the ink only touched the card stock in the areas of the branch. She then used ink to add extra color to her flowers. Buttons for the eyes of the flowers and some adhesive brought everything together. Makes me hopeful for spring flowers!

Joanna also used a masking technique. She first created her design then applied various shades of yellow and blue to create the fun design. Matching card stock, a fun template, and a sweet stamp finished out the fun card.

Sadly, the Joes and Betty were unable to attend card club as Joe R. and Betty’s sweet mother, Eunice, passed away. We missed them terribly, but they were definitely there in spirit as well as in our hearts and prayers. To help, Carole and I volunteered to make their cards. The boys finished their cards before leaving, and I gladly made a second set for Betty. It gave me the opportunity to try a technique I had wanted to try for a long time. To create the purple pattern on the bottom of the tall card, I embossed wax paper. Placing an embossed piece of paper between two card fronts and under a piece of plain paper, I applied heat using an iron on the cotton setting without steam. This created a wax resist. Using an applicator tool and Concord distress ink, I applied color by using a circular motion. The wax resist . . . well . . . resists the ink creating a cool pattern. I do believe Betty’s card turned out better than the one I did for me!

Finally, for my card, I roughed up the edges of the card stock pieces with a distressing tool then swiped them with Coco ink. For the racoon’s scarf and hat, I used a blending tool to gather the ink from the top of the stamp pad container. It works just like a marker and ensures the inks and “markers” match perfectly. Lastly, I used Lagoon ink to color the twine.

Next month’s theme is punches – boarder punches, shape punches, any type of punch. NO die cutting machines! No Cricuts, no Zings, no Pazzles . . . I think you get the idea. If you would like to join the card club, simply contact Red Letter Journal or a member of the Create and Craft team. Any one of us would be happy to explain the process and get you signed up!